With his mind in a haze of frustration over what had happened the past couple months, T.J. Brennan packed up his things and went home to Moorestown.

The 24-year-old defenseman started the year with the Buffalo Sabres, the organization that drafted him in the second round of the 2007 draft. (The Sabres actually acquired that pick from the Flyers in a trade for goalie Marty Biron, but that’s a story for another day.)

In mid-March 2013, Buffalo finally traded him after toying with whether or not they thought he was NHL material. He was shipped to the Florida Panthers, where he played 19 games before the end of the season. In mid-June, he was traded again, this time to the Nashville Predators.

“It was very frustrating (at the time), but in the summer time it wasn’t because I had perspective on it,” Brennan said by phone this week. “Unfortunately it was a little later than I would have liked. It was a learning point and I just tried to learn from it and move on and use it for this year as motivation.”

Brennan found comfort in hanging out with his younger brother, a forward on the Rowan University hockey team with aspirations of becoming a “very, very successful businessman.”

“In a lot of ways, he’s my role model,” Brennan said. “The inspiration that guy has every day is second to none. He’s a guy that I wish I had the ability to pick his brain every day because he’s really inspiring.”

That’s right, even though he’s two years younger, it was Shane who had words of wisdom that allowed his big brother T.J. to hit the reset button on his still-young career.

“Sometimes it hurts the pride a bit, but I certainly pride myself on giving credit where credit is due,” Brennan said. “I think that all aspires from my parents. They’ve made me into the man I am today and I learn from my brother and they’ve obviously taught him everything he knows.”

The summer was a time of self-reflection for Brennan. Realizing he needed a fresh slate, he opted to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs even though an NHL gig wasn’t guaranteed. In fact, he hasn’t suited up for the Leafs since preseason.

Brennan has racked up 51 points in 48 games for the Toronto Marlies. That’s good enough for fourth in overall scoring in the American Hockey League (tops among defensemen by 13 points) entering this weekend’s play.

Brennan played in the AHL All-Star Game this week, a doubly impressive feat considering the league’s top stars took on Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League, so it only fielded one side of the game instead of both. He hasn’t been stewing in self-pity about not getting an NHL job handed to him.

“I just came from an All-Star game and I’ve made a lot of observations and made a few pretty good realizations about how good some of the players in this league are,” Brennan said. “I’m just trying to prepare and get ready for my next game and living in the moment and prepare for the next situation.”

His mother and three sisters actually flew out to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to surprise him at his first AHL All-Star Game.

It sure didn’t look like it would go this way last year. Even when the Sabres fired long-time coach Lindy Ruff and brought up AHL coach Ron Rolston, who had coached Brennan with the Rochester Americans, he couldn’t win an NHL job.

“There was too big of a misconnection to regain,” Brennan said. “I thank (then GM) Darcy Regier for giving me an opportunity somewhere else. Fault’s on me. I didn’t take full advantage of that opportunity.”

Same story with the Panthers.

“Whatever way I want to look at it, I wasn’t good enough at the end of the day and I’ve got to learn from that,” Brennan said.

“Over the summer it was a tough thing to swallow at the time, but I take it all in stride and I think I did a pretty good job of that.”

Nashville seemed like a good fit, but Toronto brought something “different” that Brennan wanted to explore so he signed with them as a free agent instead.

He went back to the things he could control. Brennan has always been lauded for his slapshot–which was clocked at 101.5 mph in the All-Star skills competition–and criticized for not getting back quickly enough when he pinches up in the play.

“All parts of your game can always get better. Obviously, I have some weak points to my game,” Brennan said. “That’s definitely key. I just look at it like I’m a different kind of player and I’m trying to bring every league a different kind of player they haven’t seen yet.”

In his continuing effort to better himself as a player, Brennan still has the ultimate goal of sticking an NHL job.

“Personally, it’s a big goal of mine to be the best hockey player that I can and if that’s at the NHL level, I’ll put my mind to it and try to become that,” Brennan said. “Right now, it’s trying to become the best AHL player I can and if I get the opportunity to make my way back in the NHL, I’ll look at that opportunity as it comes.”

Reach Dave Isaac at disaac@cpsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @davegisaac.